RE
They're selling postcards of the hanging.
SOL RE
They're painting the passports brown.
LA7
The beauty parlour's filled with sailors.
SOL RE
The circus is in town.
RE
Here comes the blind commissioner.
SOL RE
They've got him in a trance.
LA7
One hand's tied to the tightrope walker.
SOL RE
The other is in his pants.
SOL
And the riot squad they're restless
RE SOL
they need some where to go.
RE LA7
As lady and I look out tonight
SOL RE
on Desolation row.
RE
Cinderella she seem so easy.
SOL RE
It takes on to know one she smiles.
LA7
Then puts her hand in her back pocket,
SOL RE
Betty Davis style.
RE
Then in comes Romeo he's moaning.
SOL RE
You Belong to me I believe.
LA7
And someone says your in the wrong place my friend
SOL RE
You better leave
SOL
and the only sound that's left
RE SOL
after the ambulances go
RE LA7
is Cinderella sweeping up
SOL RE
on Desolation row.
RE
Now the moon is almost hidden
SOL RE
the stars are beginning to hide
LA7
The fortune telling lady
SOL RE
Has already taken all her things inside.
RE
All except for Cane and Able
SOL RE
and the Hunch Back of Notre Dame
LA7
everyone is making love
SOL RE
or else expecting rain
SOL
And the good Samaritan he's dressing
RE SOL
He's gettin ready for the show.
RE LA7
He's going to the carnival
SOL RE
tonight on Desolation row.
RE
Now Ophelia she's 'neath the window.
SOL RE
For her I feel so afraid.
LA7
On her twenty-second birthday
SOL RE
She already is an old maid.
RE
To her death is quite romantic.
SOL RE
She wears an iron vest.
LA7
Her profession's her religion,
SOL RE
her sin is her lifelessness.
SOL
And though her eyes are fixed upon
RE SOL
Noah's great rainbow
RE LA7
she spends her time peeking
SOL RE
into Desolation row.
RE
Einstein disguised as Robin Hood
SOL RE
With his memories in a trunk
LA7
Passed this way an hour ago
SOL RE
With his friend a jealous monk.
RE
He looked so frightful
SOL RE
As he bummed a cigarette
LA7
Then went off sniffing drain pipes
SOL RE
and reciting the alphabet.
SOL
No you would not think to look at him
RE SOL
That he was famous long ago
RE LA7
for playing electric violin
SOL RE
on Desolation row.
RE
Doctor filth he keeps his word
SOL RE
Inside a leather cup
LA7
But all his sexless patients
SOL RE
Are trying to blow it up.
RE
Now his nurse a local looser
SOL RE
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
LA7
And she also keeps the cards that read
SOL RE
Have mercy on his soul.
SOL
They all play on penny whistles
RE SOL
You can hear them blow
RE LA7
If you lean your head out far enough
SOL RE
from Desolation row
RE
Across the street they've nailed the curtains
SOL RE
they're gettin ready for the feast
LA7
the phantom of the opera
SOL RE
a perfect image of a priest
RE
They're spoon feedin Casanova
SOL RE
to get him to feel more assured
LA7
then they'll killed him with self confidence
SOL RE
after poisoning him with words
SOL
and the phantom shouting to skinning girls
RE SOL
get outta her don't you know
RE LA7
Casanova is just being punished
SOL RE
for going to Desolation row.
RE
Now at midnight all the agents
SOL RE
And the superhuman crews
LA7
round up everyone
SOL RE
That knows more than they do.
RE
Then they bring them to the factory
SOL RE
where the heart attack machines
LA7
is strapped across their shoulders
SOL RE
And then the kerosene
SOL
is brought down from the castles
RE SOL
by insurance men that go
RE LA7
check to see that nobody is escaping
SOL RE
to Desolation row
RE
Praise be to Nero's Neptune
SOL RE
The Titanic sails at dawn
LA7
and everybody shouting
SOL RE
which side are you on
RE
and Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot
SOL RE
fighting in the captains tower
LA7
while calypso signers laugh at them
SOL RE
and fishermen hold flowers
SOL
between the windows of the sea
RE SOL
where lovely mermaids flow
RE LA7
and nobody has to think too much
SOL RE
about Desolation row
RE
Yes I received your letter yesterday
SOL RE
About the time the door knob broke.
LA7
When you asked me how I was
SOL RE
Was that some kind of joke.
RE
All those people that you mention
SOL RE
yes I know them they're quite lame.
LA7
I had to rearrange their faces
SOL RE
and give them all another name.
SOL
Right now I can't read too good
RE SOL
don't send me no more letters no.
RE LA7
Not unless you mail them from
SOL RE
Desolation row.